The present invention relates, in general, to fluid quick connectors which couple fluid carrying or operative components, and, more particularly, to fluid quick connectors having an internally mounted shut off or stop valve.
Snap-fit or quick connectors are employed in a wide range of applications, particularly, for joining fluid carrying conduits in automotive and industrial applications. Such quick connectors utilize retainers or locking elements for securing one connector component, such as a tubular conduit, within a complimentary bore of another connector component or housing. Such retainers are typically of either the axially-displaceable or radially-displaceable type. The terms “axially-displaceable” or “radially-displaceable” are taken relative to the axial bore through the female component.
In a typical quick connector with an axially displaceable retainer, the retainer is mounted within a bore in a housing of one connector component. The retainer has a plurality of radially and angularly extending legs which extend inwardly toward the axial center line of the bore in the housing. A tube to be sealingly mounted in the bore in the one component includes a radially upset portion or flange which abuts an inner peripheral surface of the retainer legs. Seal and spacer members as well as a bearing or top hat are typically mounted in the bore ahead of the retainer to form a seal between the housing and the component when the component is lockingly engaged with the retainer legs in the housing.
Radially displaceable retainers are also known in which the retainer is radially displaceable through aligned bores or apertures formed transversely to the main throughbore in the housing. The radially displaceable retainer is typically provided with a pair of depending legs which are sized and positioned to slip behind the radially upset portion or flange on the tube only when the tube is fully seated in the bore in the housing. This ensures a positive locking engagement of the tube with the housing as well as providing an indication that the tube is fully seated since the radially displaceable retainer can be fully inserted into the housing only when the tube has been fully inserted into the bore in the housing.
The above described fluid quick connectors use a tube or tube endform which meets SAE standards in terms of the raised bead height, depth, etc.
Other quick connectors utilize retainers designed to lockingly engage beadless endforms. One type of such retainers are in the form of an annular clip with a plurality of radially inward extending, flexible fingers, which engage the endform at an angle to resist pullout of the endform from the connector housing. Another type has a radially inward projection which engages a recess in the endform.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a fluid quick connector which is slidably latchable to a stub out conduit and which carries a shut off valve movable to a flow enabling position in response to a fully inserted endform into the connector housing. It would also be desirable to provide such a fluid quick connector in which the endform cannot be fully inserted into the housing when the retainer is in the fully latched position in the housing. It would also be desirable to provide such a fluid quick connector which is latchable to an external fluid device.